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Tuesday, October 31, 1911: Can hardly believe it is really Halloween. It is so very quiet here. No racket whatever. Just a year ago tonight I was having a grand time at a masquerade, but I have not such fun as that tonight. There is a masquerade up at McEwensville tonight. I wasn’t invited and would hardly have gone as it is awful muddy. Feel rather doleful over the mark I made in Algebra: 68. 68, you I hate.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Grandma should have studied more for her Algebra test. I guess that she must have never quite figured out L.C.M. (lowest common multiples) and H.C.F. (highest common factors).

I wonder if Grandma and her little brother Jimmie carved a jack-o-lantern for Halloween. If they did, I bet they saved some of the seeds for planting the next year.

Both pumpkin and winter squash seeds are easy to save, and have always germinated well when I’ve planted them.

To have the best results, save seeds from the specimens with the most desirable characteristics (size, color, vigor, taste, resistance to plant diseases, etc.)

After pulling off any excess pulp, place the seeds on a piece of waxed paper. (Do not wash the seeds). Let dry for about 2 weeks. Then place in a labeled envelope and store in a cool dry place until spring. I store my seed envelopes in our attached garage.

[…] frustrated with herself, it’s better than some of her previous grades in math. For example, on October 31,1911 she wrote: Feel rather doleful over the mark I made in Algebra: 68. 68, you I hate. Advertisement […]

Hello

I look forward to sharing my grandmother's diary with relatives and friends. Helena Muffly (Swartz) kept a diary from 1911-1914. She was 15 years old when she began this diary. I plan to post these entries one day at a time—exactly 100 years after she wrote them. I hope you enjoy this glimpse back to a slower paced time.

The header is a picture of the farm where my grandmother lived when she wrote this diary. It is located in Northumberland County in central Pennsyvlania about a mile outside of McEwenvsille. My father said that the buildings look similar to what they looked like when he was a child.